INCHEON, South Korea—Filipino boxers went four-of-four as of Thursday afternoon at the 17th Asian Games with middleweight Wilfredo Lopez and flyweight Ian Clark Bautista getting through the preliminaries at the Seonhak Gymnasium.
Lopez, the heaviest on the eight-member Philippine team that includes two women, dealt Turkmenistan’s Aziz Achilov a 2-1 beating, while Bautista scored a 3-0 rout of Jordan’s Mohamad Shamon to each secure quarterfinals seats in their respective divisions.
Lopez wad deducted a point for ducking but still got Achilov’s number and went on to dominate the fight. They joined bantamweight Mario Fernandez and lightweight Charly Suarez who both advanced on Wednesday night.
Two other Filipinos, London Olympian but Asian Games first-timer light-flyweight Mark Anthony Barriga and light-welterweight Dennis Galvan were schedule to climb the ring against Hussin Al Masri of Syria and Chinzorig Baatarsukh of Mongolia, respectively, late Thursday.
“It’s a good start and we are hoping to go perfect,” men’s Head Coach Nolito “Boy” Velasco told the BusinessMirror in Filipino. “The boys fought as instructed and have remained in shape for their next fights.”
Lopez, 19, is untraditionally tall for a Filipino middleweight and used his reach advantage to avoid Achilov’s straights.
The silver medalist in last year’s Myanmar Southeast Asian Games, Lopez got the nod of the South Korean and Irish judges, who both saw the fight at 29-28 for the Filipino. The third judge, a Tunisian, however, gave the fight to the Turkmenistan bet.
Bautista, 20, got all of the three judges’ approval, 29-26, 29-25, 29-27.
Next up for Lopez is veteran Abdulridha Waheed, the 31-year-old Iraqi who stunned South Koran Kim Daehwan, 3-0. Bautista will face South Korean Choe Sangdon, who ousted Kinley Gyeltshen of Bhutan, 3-0, in the quarterfinals on Saturday.
